


Sunshine and Skeletons

by Jammy_Jams



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Post-Pacifist Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 07:33:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5325908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jammy_Jams/pseuds/Jammy_Jams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A one-shot on how the monsters came to coexist with humans on the surface, and Frisk calling Sans “dad” for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunshine and Skeletons

In retrospect, Sans should have seen it coming. I mean, the kid had started calling Toriel “mom” a few hours after meeting her and they had been living together on the surface for a full year now.

 

Seeing the sunset on the surface for the first time was an experience Sans would never forget. The sky looked so far away after living underground his entire life it almost gave him vertigo, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from the vivid yellows and oranges blasting across the sky and painting the clouds a soft pink. It seemed as though dusk on the surface held more colors than all of Snowdin, and to be honest it was a bit overwhelming. The inside of his eye sockets started feeling itchy, and Sans was almost grateful when Papyrus very loudly declared he needed to make a good first impression on the humans and broke the spell by running off.

 

Of course, Undyne caught up with Papyrus easily and dragged him back before any damage could be done. The introduction of monsters back into the human world where no one even believed they existed would have to be delicate. Luckily, all the monsters were only too happy to spend their first night on the surface camping out under the stars, exploring close to the mountain. With Frisk’s help, Alphys was able to use her equipment to locate exactly where the exit to Mt. Ebbot was, and the nearest human settlements. None were close; only an old, abandoned town full of golden flowers was nearby, and the next inhabited city was miles away. It made Sans wonder how Frisk managed to find their way into the Ruins in the first place.

 

Well, the King and Queen didn’t hold their titles for nothin’, and were able to negotiate a peace agreement with the human government relatively quickly. Imagine the human officials’ surprise when they received a short video of two kind, furry monsters explaining the situation (with a tall skeleton waving excitedly in the background) on an email that was supposed to be secure. Alphys had flushed with pride at the King and Queen’s praise of her hacking skills. As it turned out, the humans’ laws dictated that all creatures born on their soil were considered citizens of that country, with full legal rights, and seeing as that was technically true of all the monsters they had no choice but to award them all citizenship.

 

The monster community was recognized as a monarchy under Asgore and Toriel, and rather than immediately attempting to assimilate them all into human society, the two ruling monsters were gifted with the abandoned town to do as they saw fit. The human “president,” a kind, older man with wispy white hair and a tired smile said he “knew something about people trying to escape confinement and seek a better life for their families,” and graciously agreed to let the monsters get settled in the town before deciding on legislation to join the two societies.

 

The town was a perfect fit, and was dubbed “New New Home” by Asgore until Toriel cowed him with a stern look and named it “Golden Valley” instead. Sans could see the heartache the multitude of yellow flowers brought to the King and Queen’s faces, but they bore it bravely and forged ahead to decide living arrangements for everyone.

 

Most of the houses had held up well against the elements despite having been abandoned for decades, and the broken windows and drafts were easily fixed by the more crafty monsters using material found in the surrounding woods. There wasn’t any indoor plumbing for the first few weeks; it took a desperate human plumbing company in massive debt to risk venturing into the monster town, but they were pleasantly surprised by what they found. The monsters were all friendly; especially the guard dogs who were ecstatic at the new smells and belly rubs, and everyone’s unique quirks were more amusing than dangerous. After a few days, every building in Golden Valley had running water coming exclusively from nearby rivers. The younger plumbers left with dozens of pictures and videos with the monsters taken during their breaks, and human relations improved immensely after they went viral.

 

With the help of a human team of electricians, Alphys was able to harness the power of the CORE under the mountain to power Golden Valley, and their little town became completely self-sufficient.

 

Undyne and Alphys moved into one of the larger houses in town; Alphys needed the extra space for her lab equipment, and human scientists would often come to visit and try to understand the applications of magic in science. Together they had already made several important breakthroughs and Alphys donated a substantial amount of her paycheck to the families of the amalgamates. Undyne painted the wood shingles on their home various shades of blue to look more like fish scales, and would host unofficial “training sessions” for the monsters in their back yard three times a week. They mostly involved a lot of laps and weight-training, though she would occasionally bench press a few children just because.

 

Mettaton stayed with Undyne and Alphys for a couple tension-filled months until he was signed on for a country-wide tour of his new band Overdrive. He felt genuinely remorseful for his treatment of Alphys, and crowded her with constant apologies and expressions of guilt that included gift-baskets of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie memorabilia and elaborately prepared meals. The lack of personal space frustrated Undyne, and turned the air thick and bitter until he grabbed Napstablook, Shyren, and Burgerpants, and ran off to perform for a new world full of adoring fans. After a while Undyne couldn’t believe she actually missed the android scratching up her piano by lying atop it and feeding himself grapes, and was a lot warmer towards him when he visited.

 

Asgore chose to live by himself in a small cottage near the town’s community center, where he attended to the public gardens as carefully as his own. At first, many monsters feared he would be cramped living in a house that was so small he had to stoop to get through doorways, but Asgore was glad for the lack of extra space. The rooms felt more peaceful than empty, and the king always made time to read to the children that came to catch butterflies in his garden. Every word read aloud and every cup of tea brewed for his guests sewed up a little more of the hole in his old, weathered heart.

 

Sans, of course, refused to be separated from his brother; but he also couldn’t take his eyes off of Toriel from the moment he recognized her voice. There must have been something in the surface air, something that propelled him out of his usual pit of despondency and lit a fire in his chest that had felt empty for a long time. The sight of Frisk gripping Toriel’s hand, with the sunlight glinting off of her immaculate white fur shot a jolt through his ribcage that rattled up to his teeth until he stuttered out,

 

“so, uh, d-do you, maybe, wanna, to conserve space- there are only so many buildings here, pap w-would be really happy if-” _Wow. This must be what being Alphys feels like._

 

Luckily, Papyrus understood what he was trying to say- his brother is so cool- and took over.

 

“I BELIEVE WHAT SANS IS TRYING TO SAY IS THAT THERE AREN’T MANY EXTRA BUILDINGS IN GOLDEN VALLEY, AND PERHAPS IT WOULD BE BEST IF WE ALL COHABITATED. I, FOR ONE, WOULD BE HONORED TO GRACE YOU WITH MY PRESENCE AND SPAGHETTI, YOUR MAGESTY!”

 

Toriel turned to look at Sans’ hesitant grin, it was interesting to see a blush on a monster that was covered in fur. Sans could just make out a pink tinge on her skin as she looked down at Frisk and said, “What do you think, my child?”

 

The kid had the biggest smile Sans had ever seen on their face. They nodded decisively three times, and Papyrus whooped and punched his gloved fists into the air. Then he scooped Frisk up into his arms and spun them around while they laughed, yelling about all the adventures he would go on with his new human friend on the surface. Toriel watched them with happy tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, and Sans walked over to silently stand by her side.

 

Their new house had three bedrooms; Frisk took the smallest bedroom and decorated it with interesting rocks and sticks they found while exploring the forest with Papyrus. They inherited Papyrus’ racecar bed, which didn’t bother the tall skeleton in the least since he got his own license and a real car. Frisk filled their bookshelves with the books Toriel gave them from her collection, and the small gifts the monsters gave them in thanks for freeing them all. Pearls from Shyren and her sister, rare seashells from Onion-san, various bones and treats from the guard dogs, a toy microphone from the Snowdrake family, an unlimited gift card from Grillby, CD’s from Napstablook, a pointy hat from Icecap, decorative soaps from Woshua, tem flakes from Temmie, a tea set from Muffet, and dozens more.

 

Sans happily shared a room with Papyrus while he and Toriel were first getting to know each other better. He didn’t mind taking things slow; on the contrary, he preferred it. He loved the skylight above his bed that let him see the stars at night and woke him up with sunlight in the mornings. He loved falling asleep to his brother’s reassuring snores and greeting Toriel as she walked down the hall from her bedroom in the mornings. He loved learning sign language with Frisk and having conversations with them, sharing mutual comfort in being the only two people who truly understood the implications of the resets and agreeing to never reload saves unless it was absolutely necessary.

 

This past year he spent living with his new family was the happiest of his life, and it was a little scary to be honest.

 

Sans thought about how much his life had changed as he drank his coffee at the kitchen table. The early morning sunlight shined through the window and glinted off the rim of his favorite mug, reflective an odd pattern onto the ceiling. There was an unspoken rule in the house- the curtains remain open as long as the sun was out. Sans glanced at the clock and noted he had about half an hour until he had to leave for work. His job wasn’t difficult, just a little tiring; teleporting a few boxes of monster-made good to human cities every day used up a fair bit of his magic, but it kept him in practice and paid well.

 

Toriel was sitting on the living room couch, finishing up some paperwork before she left to her job as a teacher. Papyrus was banging around in the kitchen, making a breakfast of eggs and bacon for Frisk. His cooking skills had improved immensely since he started taking actual cooking classes, which surprised no one. Papyrus was an incredibly fast and dedicated learner, earning respect and admiration for his boundless energy both at school and at his job. Grillby had expanded his restaurant to more than twice the size it was underground once human tourists realized how amazing the food was. And, for the first time, Grillby’s hired waiters to handle the influx of customers and Papyrus’s cheerful demeanor was perfect for the job.

 

This was their usual morning routine, and right on time, Frisk stumbled sleepily down the stairs and sat down at the kitchen table to wait for breakfast. Sans watched in amusement as Frisk set their backpack on the floor and face-planted onto the table.

 

“Frisk, dear one,” Toriel called from the living room, “did you finish all your homework?”

 

Frisk was far more comfortable speaking at home than in public, but still kept their answers short and soft. It was usually easier to coax a few more sentences from them in the early morning before they were fully awake.

 

“Mhm, I finished my math mom.” Frisk mumbled, with their face still stuck to the table.

 

“math problems?” Sans grinned, “do ya wanna _sum_ them up for us?”

 

Toriel snickered as Papyrus scrambled the eggs a little too vigorously.

 

“remember, you can’t start skipping math class, it’ll _add_ up and you’ll be at _odds_ with your teachers.”

 

Toriel chuckled under her breath as Papyrus started grumbling into the pan of bacon.

 

“but i’m not worried, i know we can really _count_ on you to do your best.”

 

Toriel was outright laughing now and Papyrus groaned loudly as he plated the food. Sans could see Frisk’s shoulders shaking as they giggled, even if they hadn’t lifted their head off the table yet.

 

“maybe i should stop these puns, i think i’m starting to do a _number_ on papyrus’ self-control, and i don’t wanna see the after _math_ if he loses it.”

 

Toriel gasped between heaves of laughter and gripped the armrest of the couch for support as she double over. Papyrus screeched “TOO LATE!” as he began violently throwing used cookware into the sink.

 

 Frisk had actually picked their head up off the table and covered their eyes with their hand as they giggled, “Daaad, that was terrible.”

 

Suddenly, the room went silent. Sans stilled and stared at Frisk with a stunned expression. Papyrus stopped throwing pans into the sink and turned around while Toriel straightened up on the couch and looked over toward the kitchen.

 

Frisk realized almost immediately what they had said and froze, too nervous to move or remove their hand from their eyes. The few awkward moments that passed felt like an eternity until Papyrus shattered the quiet with a delighted scream. He tripped over to the table and kneeled by Frisk while shouting,

 

“HUMAN! IF SANS GETS TO BE YOUR DAD MAY I BE YOUR UNCLE!? I WOULD BE ECSTATIC IF I COULD CALL MYSELF YOUR ‘UNCLE PAPYRUS!’ OOOO LOOK AT THAT IT HAS SUCH A NICE RING TO IT! AND YOU WOULD GAIN PRESTIGE BY BECOMING THE NIECE OF THE GREAT ‘UNCLE PAPYRUS!’”

 

Frisk peeked around their hand to look at Sans, unsure and hopeful, and it snapped him out his daze. He let his grin grow, covering up his uncertainty, and winked at Frisk. “go for it, kid.”

 

The reaction was immediate; Frisk dropped their hand to the table and beamed, turning to nod at Papyrus in confirmation. Papyrus let out a joyous “NYEH HEH HEH!” as he wrapped his arms around Frisk and stood up, leaving their feet dangling in the air. “TORIEL! DID YOU HEAR? I’M AN UNCLE! THE GREAT MASTER CHEF UNCLE PAPYRUS!” He peered over Frisk’s head into the living room where Toriel was staring at them with an enormous watery smile.

 

Papyrus transferred Frisk under one arm and lifted Sans up with the other, “THIS CALLS FOR A GROUP HUG!” and ran towards Toriel. She opened up her arms and threw them around all three of them as Papyrus gently crashed into her.

 

Any lingering doubt Sans had about his new title evaporated as he watched Frisk join Toriel and Papyrus in crying happy tears. The sun shining through the window and reflecting off his family nearly blinded him with its brilliance, and Sans closed his eyes and laughed aloud.

 


End file.
